....the notable coward's story continues.
What a week! Holy cow.
In roughly chronological order:
Monday, Former Russia advisor to the president* Fiona Hill testified. She expressed dismay at the ouster and the smear campaign against former Ambassador to Ukraine Maria Yovanovitch. She had left the administration before the Ukraine phone call, but not before the shenanigans had been put into motion. She walked into Capitol Hill like a boss and told the truth. Another American hero.
On Tuesday, both Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani flaunted the subpoenas and refused to provide documents, as did the White House Office of Management and Budget. More American cowards.
Also on Tuesday, SCROTUS called for impeaching himself. Yes, indeed. A most notable coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality. You finally agree. We need you gone.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff gave a brief update and said that there would be no formal vote on proceeding with an impeachment inquiry. The Whitewash House has not been able to defend the actions, so they attack the process. In 45's whiny letter to Congress last week, one of his chief complaints was that a full House vote on the inquiry was not undertaken. Neither the Constitution nor House rules stipulate that a vote must be taken. A reporter asked Speaker Pelosi, "Why not take a vote and call 45's bluff?" Her response: "We're not here to call bluffs. We're here to find the truth and to uphold the Constitution of the United States. This is not a game for us. This is deadly serious."
And then Wednesday. Whoa, Nelly! Our 1,000th Backward Day was chock full o' nuts.
On Wednesday morning, losing his grip on the situation, TЯUMP became absolutely deranged about the Syria debacle and lied over and over about what had happened there. His remarks in front of the press and the president of Italy on Wednesday were head-spinning. He said that the fight is about control of land, that it "had nothing to do with us" and that his move was "strategically brilliant." He lied that he didn't give the green light to Turkey to invade (ahem: your own words a couple weeks ago, worm: "Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria. The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and United States forces, having defeated the ISIS territorial ‘Caliphate,’ will no longer be in the immediate area.")
He continued his out-of-control spin by insulting the Kurds, by saying they are "no angels" and "they have a lot of sand to play with." Reminder: over 10,000 Kurds died in our fight against ISIS. You can read about all the myriad falsehoods he spouted in AP's factcheck or on Slate. It's mind-boggling and stomach-churning. Our National Pit o' Despair again shows no bottom.
Later that day, the House overwhelmingly (354 to 60) sent a bipartisan rebuke to the president* for his actions in Syria.
And shortly after the resolution was passed, he met with Democratic leaders in the Whitewash House.
This headline appeared on my newsfeed: Great White Shark With Massive Bite on Head Attacked by Even Bigger Shark. A picture emerged from the incident:
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| Which is the bigger shark? |
Speaker Pelosi owned the meeting! She left when the Toddler-in-Chief threw a tantrum and called her names. We are reminded of December when she left the Whitewash House in flames (and that coat though!).
In typical fashion, Baby Hands tried to spin it that Speaker Pelosi was the one who had the meltdown during the meeting. He went so far as to tweet that photo as evidence of her meltdown. BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Look again at the photo. All those little men, cowed and subdued, by one very powerful woman.
This picture will be shown in sociology, psychology, and political science classes for years to come. Pelosi is da broad!
As part of his tantrum during that meeting, Cheeto Benito called Four-Star Marine general and former Secretary of Defense James Mattis "the most overrated general." General Mattis laughed it off later, at a white-tie dinner. I think I'm in love with General Mattis.
Also on Wednesday, FAUX News (so you know it was leaked to inexplicably try to make him look good) broke that he had sent this letter to Erdoğan WTAF. We all thought it was parody. Surprise, Americans. It is not parody.
Another of Giuliani's associates was arrested on Wednesday at JFK with similar charges as the original two goons, and we learned that Giuliani has been under FBI counterintelligence investigation.
We barely digested all of that news on Wednesday when ProPublica broke the story that Darth taxeVader has apparently been committing tax fraud by keeping two sets of financial books, one for lenders that shows higher rental incomes, and one for the IRS, which shows lower property valuation. You may recall that Michael Cohen, in his remarks to Congress, indicated that the Tax Cheat-in-Chief had done this. Here's the proof.
Also on Wednesday! SCROTUS tried to ambush the unfortunate parents from Great Britain whose son had been struck and killed by a U.S. diplomat's wife who was driving on the wrong side of the road. The teen's parents were in Washington and met with the president*, and the ugly so-and-so gathered the press, and the person who had killed their son, in a different room, waiting for a surprise meeting. Un.fucking.believable.
And somewhere on Wednesday, nearly getting lost in all of the other jaw-dropping news, Michael McKinley, one of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's top aides, testified to Congress. You may recall that he resigned last week. He was upset about the treatment of Ambassador Yovanovitch as well as the State Department's response to the Ukraine scandal. He was a pretty darn good witness.
The crazy continued into Thursday.
A bomb was dropped on Thursday when acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, in front of reporters and cameras, gave evidence in support of impeachment. He stated that there was quid pro quo regarding the Ukraine situation. He admitted that the $400 million in aid to Ukraine was indeed held up on the condition that Ukraine investigate long-debunked theories about interference in the 2016 election. Jonathan Karl of ABC even stopped and clarified with him using the words quid pro quo, and Mulvaney confirmed, yes. It happened. And, he added, "It happens all the time....get over it." Here is the video. We can all see and hear his words with our very own ears and eyes.
Hours later, Mulvaney tried walking back his admission, blaming the press for "misconstruing" his words. Honey, we were there, listening to you. You said it. Now, shhhhh be quiet and maybe you and Rudy should put the lid back on the cookie jar and go out and play.
Ambassador to the E.U. Robert Sondland testified to House Committees on Thursday. He was ticked, as he had found himself the recipient of many of 45's lies. But the essence of his testimony was that 45 directed his personal attorney (remember, Giuliani is not a government employee) to orchestrate foreign policy in Ukraine. He asserted that Giuliani's mission was perhaps “to involve Ukrainians, directly or indirectly, in the president’s 2020 re-election campaign.” Sondland also said, “We were also disappointed by the president’s direction that we involve Mr. Giuliani. Our view was that the men and women of the State Department, not the president’s personal lawyer, should take responsibility for all aspects of U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine.”
To my view, it takes a lot of chutzpah to say something like that, given that Sondland himself bought his way into an ambassadorship with $1 million donation to TЯUMP's inauguration. He had no foreign service experience, yet was charged with being ambassador to the whole of the European Union, and somehow found himself in the middle of Ukraine's issues as one of the "three amigos" working Ukraine, the other dos amigos being Kurt Volker and Energy Secretary Rick Perry.
Rick Perry resigned, by the way. It was expected that he would resign, but it became official. Remember when Perry famously forgot the name of the agency he has led the last couple years? It was during the 2011 debate, when he was listing the agencies that he would eliminate from the cabinet and he couldn't recall the name of the Department of Energy. "Oops." Yup, typical to this administration, he has led an agency he doesn't believe in. And typical to this administration, he went through the revolving door.
Republicans are starting to turn on Mein Furor. On Friday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) expressed their concerns. In addition, former Ohio Governor and 2016 GOP presidential candidate John Kasich all expressed support for impeachment. In addition, Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL) has expressed his support for impeachment and has called on Rick Perry to comply with the subpoena and testify. On Saturday Rooney announced his intention to resign (he makes the umpteenth GOP member of Congress to step aside).
On Friday, General David Petraeus, former commander of troops in Afghanistan and CIA Director, called Benedict Donald's actions against the Kurds "a betrayal."
John Cole unearthed this first draft of the letter to Erdoğan:
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| John Cole |
If you haven't been paying attention and you want to get caught up, click here: Impeachment. You'll see my previous posts on the subject. Thanks for reading, sister and brother resisters!
#Reisist! (have you contacted your Member of Congress lately?)
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